Theodore Earl Butler (American, 1861-1936). Johnny in Claude Monet's Garden, Giverny, circa spring 1929. Oil on canvas. ...

Description

Theodore Earl Butler (American, 1861-1936)
Johnny in Claude Monet's Garden, Giverny, circa spring 1929
Oil on canvas
32 x 32 inches (81.3 x 81.3 cm)
Estate stamp lower left

PROVENANCE:
The artist;
Lilly Butler the artist's daughter, by descent from the above;
Jean Marie Toulgouat the artist's grandson, by descent from the above.

Claude Monet and the artists' colony at Giverny helped transform Ohio native Theodore Butler into a premiere Post-Impressionist painter. He studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the Académies Julian and Colarossi in Paris before traveling to Giverny in 1888. At Giverny, Butler crafted his own style, combining Impressionist color and brushwork with Post-Impressionist abstracted, flattened forms and an emphasis on patterning. Butler married Monet's step-daughter Suzanne Hoschedé and, after her death, her sister, Marthe Hoschedé.

Johnny in Claude Monet's Garden, Giverny is a playful depiction of Butler's grandson Jean Marie Toulgouat, also known as Johnny. Here, the viewer is looking through a portal into the idyllic garden of Claude Monet. Little Johnny engages with the viewer by returning the gaze as if to invite us into this world of youth, innocence, and joy. A symbol of purity, enlightenment, and innocence, the white horse motif is repeated throughout the composition, encapsulating Johnny and Monet's Garden in a bubble of purity and perfection.

This work will be included in Patrick Bertrand's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Theodore Earl Butler.


More information about Theodore Earl Butler. See also: Butler, Theodore Earl, Butler, Theodore, Butler, Theodore E. Artist.

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